Students Shoulder-to-shoulder

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
264106369
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Edwards, CO, USA
Phone
9704716186
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Voluntarism Promotion

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,362,224
Expenses
$1,378,031
Assets
$438,086
Liabilities
$308,615

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ROBERT A BANDONI (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • ROBERT A BANDONI (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $128,242 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To inspire and educate high school students to engage as active global citizens through full-immersion service programs.

What it reported doing in 2024

The organization's programs are designed to educate the next generation of global citizens by involving high school-age youth in studying political, economic, geographic, cultural and ethical issues. Students work on-site with non-government charitable and service organizations, and make public presentations to demonstrate the knowledge they have gained and to inspire participation by others. The programs are intended to broaden appreciation by participants for the complexity of world issues. The organization traveled with students to three domestic locations and to four international locations in 2024. A total of two hundred and four students participated in the eighteen courses offered.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 69% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 91% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 25
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.1%; rating input score 78
  • Program expense ratio: 76%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.85 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -1.2%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.32; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.7; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.3%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 24.5% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.1% of revenue deployed · 76% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 15 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $128K · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and grants
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.